Grateful for any advice

[sivyaleah]

Oh and one other thing you can try which was suggested to me by a member here, Flint McCullough, is when you come in with food use a word like "Treaties" or whatever feels right for you - and kind of make a nice fuss about it.  I would first knock on the door, announce myself to Cocoa, let her know treats were coming, and how good they were, and then, leave so she felt safe coming out to eat.  Once she showed less anxiety around me, I began to stay in the room while she ate, but at the beginning I gave her total space.

 

[epidaurus]

sivyaleah, you know what. The litter box was clear on the other side of the room from the food at the beginning, but I moved the box under the table a day or so ago for some privacy. It's now less than 2 inches away from the food and water! I'm so glad that jumped out at you. I'll fix that right away. 

peaches08, jingling the keys is a terrific idea. This is all so helpful. I can't thank you guys enough. 

Friends, here is what my trip to the grocery store produced. I work from home, luckily, so I can run to the store again if anything looks amiss. Right now, I'm thinking of lightly heating the Gerber Stage 2 Chicken & Chicken Gravy and stepping inside, keys a jinglin', whilst making  (I love this wording) "a nice fuss." I'll also put the food and water far away from our litter box and in front of our kitten.

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• epidaurus
• Sep 10, 2013

 

[sivyaleah]

Glad to help lol.

And that is a lot of kitty crack there so hopefully the lil' fuzzy one will find one or the other tempting enough shortly.  

Perhaps leave a little bit of each out, so there is a choice and see which one they like.  I wouldn't go in and check on the kitten for at least a couple of hours - give them time.  They may need some peace and quiet, not hearing your footsteps/sounds nearby in order to feel comfortable right now in order to eat.  

 

[nccarol]

Just a suggestion you might want to take the mattress off and just capture the little guy. I know you don't want to scare it more but if it has been outside it could have fleas and could be getting them indoors or it could be sick and for me better safe than sorry. If it was me I would take it to the vet regardless to make sure the little guy is alright. If it has fleas it can be anemic as well. I honestly would do that before anything else. I have rescued several babies or young ones and for me I check them over thoroughly, do the nails, check ears for mites, deflea them, comb out etc and get them used to handling but I don't suggest if you are not used to doing that stuff yourself, The vet may suggest special food to get it to eat and really to be safe make sure it is not sick is probably wise. So you don't get scratched have the carrier handy, shut the bedroom door, might take two of you and if need be you can toss a towel or small blanket over the kitty to pick it up easier. Getting it into the carrier can be challenging I stand mine upright and put it in feet first or I lift by the scruff of the neck but you may not be familiar with that. Just my suggestion. Keep us posted  

 

[ondine]

You said you worried about bringing a "helpless creature" inside. Well, think about it this way. That helpless creature is now safe with two humans who are worried sick about her. So stop worrying! You are doing the right thing. It is going to take her time to adjust. I say "patience, grasshopper."

Having said that, though, you do have to be aware that fleas may have come in with her. She will eventually need a vet check, so you should start planning for that now. She will probably freak out and regress a little but she will be OK (and flea less). Thank you for taking such good care of her.

 

[ondine]

Btw David foster Wallace may be a little heavy reading. Only because you will find yourself having a heavy tone when you read.

 

[StefanZ]

I think  it Gerber stage 1   they usually mention as tip for kittens.

I  dont live in USA, we dont have it here,  so I myself dont even know what it really is...

Good luck!

 

[mini lowen]

I agree with Ondine, you guys rescued the little guy! I know it doesn't understand that and to him it probably seems like murder is likely. But he is much better off scared in your apartment than on the streets in a big city. This is the start of you being super patient. I like the idea of putting out a teaspoon of all the different foods to tempt him. I have always found that the smellier the food the better. Canned sardines work well around here when tempting a sick cat. Also, if he's been living on the streets, maybe he's used to eating people food scraps. My mum has a stray she rescued and it refused most cat food and prefers what my mum had for supper. Corned beef, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, even bread and butter. You do have to find a cat food they like eventually because of the nutrients, but maybe people food is more familiar. Also you said you fed him at night when he was outside. Maybe he likes to eat at night and sleep during the day. (Like a Rockstar ). Personally , here at my house, my cats would slap a B for that Fancy Feast!

 

[epidaurus]

Everyone, as always, thank you so much for your kind words and advice.

At 1:30 PM, I left this plate of lightly-heated food for the kitten. It was less than 8 inches away from its nose and well clear of the litter box. (It's no longer under a mattress. After the curtain fiasco, it's hiding under a very low end table.) Fancy Feast is on the left and Gerber Chicken & Gravy is on the right. I left the kitten alone for three hours. I even left the house. At 4:30 PM, everything remained untouched. 

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• epidaurus
• Sep 10, 2013

Before 1:30 PM, I spent an hour reading it stories. At 7:30 PM, I taped a spoon to the end of a broom, laced the spoon with pastrami, and gently slid it under the end table. Nothing. 1:30 AM, September 11, will mark 3 days with only a teaspoon of tuna. We're dreading this, but we're going to have to trap the kitten tonight and take it to the vet. 

Well, hold on -- my girlfriend just went in there to place the crate on the floor and told me four Temptations treats are missing. She also said nothing is under the end table and I've been talking to a leaf. 

Btw David foster Wallace may be a little heavy reading. 

 Only because you will find yourself having a heavy tone when you read.

 

[mini lowen]

Omg! You fed pastrami to a leaf! That's awesome ! Lol ! Seriously, I think 4 Temptations missing is promising. Call the vet, before trapping your hunger striker. Maybe she has some advice we haven't thought of.

 

[ondine]

One suggestion - only put out a small amount of food, say a teaspoon ful at a time. First, it will save you money and if she eats, you can always replenish her supply. Second, if she begins to eat, she may gorge and that won't be pretty because she will toss it right back up.

I am impressed with her dishes. My cats get plain old white Corelle.

 

[peaches08]

LOL that you've been talking to a leaf!!! Hope kitty eats soon.

 

[nccarol]

That's a yummy looking plate 

 it won't be resisting that for long. That's promising news some snacks were taken. That is so adorable reading to it and the pastrami on the spoon taped to the broom. I have to remember that one. You guys are very inventive and definitely dedicated . 

 

[mservant]

I have no experience of rescuing cats but I've been following this thread for days and it's got to the point I can't resist any more.  Curtain trauma and reading stories out loud to a leaf are just too much.  You have cheered me up no end by reading about your dramas.  I am hoping you have managed to locate your little cat now that it's moved from under the table and that it's still OK from munching on the fancy feasts.  One tip LDG gave in another post where giving tiny bits of food was to portion the food in to little packets and freeze what you won't definitely use over the next couple of days. Saves loads of waste.  I'm putting tea spoons of wet food in to a covered ice cube tray and taking one cube out a day to defrost as that's what I need.

 

[epidaurus]

MServant, thank you! I'm so glad to hear. Cheers!

 

You and Odine (and I think someone else) mentioned smaller portions and it worked! It's eating! It's eating Gerber food like it was crapped from the gods. I thought this cat was hopeless and near death and a solid relationship nearly fake broke up, but everyone that preached the miracle of baby food knows what's up. I changed some things: Instead of dumping out the container (I can't believe how much food they stuff in a Gerber jar) I took everyone's advice and placed a single spoonful away from the litter box (that suggestion by sivyaleah was half the trick). I also stopped cooing and cajoling and feeding a leaf (I don't want to know what the cat was thinking about me during these episodes) and put the spoon in the vicinity of the living, breathing mammal. The spoon, my god! It's routinely licked clean. Like it reflects light! We almost danced the Spanish jig in our living room the first time that happened. 

I'm still reading it everything. The cat has listened patiently to Shakespeare and David Foster Wallace and Molecular Biology of the Cell. Sometimes it whines in the middle of a read and I'll stop and say "Yeah, you're right. This is godawful" and switch books. 

The whining though; I feel like the cat has gone from being mostly mute to mostly distressed. I sleep with a book. Once it starts up, I'll read and the cat will stop for ten minutes. The whining is new and stressful. It sounds so sad. We both hear it and don't know what to do, so we just cringe. It whines a lot on the sill and sometimes scratches and paws at the window. Does it need a companion? 

Today, day 5, I walked in jingling some treats and Gerber food. I put everything down and opened a book. Kitten was under the radiator. I saw legs and they didn't scamper. I started reading and the kitten carefully eyed me and then stepped out to eat with me in the room. I was six feet away and could only see it out of the corner of my eye. Then it ran away and started whining. 

I often despaired that I would never get close to this cat and the best I could hope for was for some kind of Stockholm Syndrome to set in. But the body rubbing purring fool that is in my spare room right now has won my heart.

 

[sivyaleah]

YAY!

YAY!

OMG YAY!

Many of us know the feeling all too well of that moment when things suddenly turn around and the kitty either concedes defeat of the situation or, recognizes they are amongst friends.  Whichever one it is, once it takes that leap of faith it will begin to come around more and more each day.

When I think back to the frightened little bag of bones that my 2nd cat was when we got her (I mean, she had a lot of fur but you could feel her spine really sharply), I can't even believe it's the same cat now 10 months later.  She has become an incredibly confident, alpha kitty, full of life and energy, trusting and loving with us and our first cat.  And, she must have doubled her weight too lol (actually, she's gained a bit too much I think, some strays/ferals will have food related issues later on just so you know).  Oh and I also remember a lot of arguments between my BF and I in those days too.  Far too many.  He was convinced she would never love him the way she seemed to care for me more but now?  I swear she adores him more than me ROFL.

Anyway - can't wait until yours has enough trust to allow you to take a photo.  When you do, just keep the sound turned down on the camera/phone so you don't freak him/her out.

Congrats to you and your GF for making it through.  It only gets better from here!

 

[ldg]

Oh my goodness, I'm reading this thread for the first time, and I'm laughing and crying all at the same time!

All of these stories and the drama with our feral kitty rescues....

I'll toss one in the ring. This is how NOT to get a rescued kitten to stop crying. It worked, but it is definitely not a method I recommend.

We rescued our very first kitty, like your no-name. Of course, we thought the entire litter of kittens were little girls - they were all so cute, and we weren't cat people. So my husband rescued one of the little girls. We could pick her up and touch her, we'd been feeding these kitties since mom weaned them. She had them in a groundhog hole right behind our home, so we saw them as soon as they were running around. The entire family but the one little kitten disappeared on the 4th of July. So what choice did we have?

We got her to the vet the next day, and found out she was a he. :lol3: We armed ourselves with everything we needed for her, and our home was transformed into a cat palace.

Well, all the little thing wanted to do was sit in front of the front door and cry. So of course our hearts were breaking. But her - ooops, his - family had disappeared, and he'd be on his own anyway. The vet put him at 9 weeks.

We thought maybe going outside would help. So we bought a tiny leash and collar. We had one stray that was our actual introduction to cats, but she lived outside. So we're out there with little kitty on a leash - and kitty is exploring around. And up comes Booger, a big girl. And she was freaking about this little thing, and the little thing was leaping and screaming, and my husband is yelling "Grab her! Grab her!" So I go to grab Booger (the stray), and the little kitty slips out of the leash and runs away. Gary's screaming at me - WHY DIDN'T YOU GRAB THE KITTEN?

Ummm... because you yelled grab HER?

So we're both crying and everyone is traumatized. I grab some chicken, and head for the groundhog hole. I laid on my belly talking and pleading for the little kitty to return, to come back.

Well, finally he got hungry enough, and came to eat the chicken in my hand. I grabbed him and whisked him inside.

No more crying for his family.

There's a second part to that story, if you're interested. It was when the family came back, and we figured he'd do better with a friend... that would be the story of how NOT to introduce cats.

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The vocalization is good. Even better if he starts hissing at you. It means he's gone beyond complete and total frozen-in-fear terror to just insanely scared. Kitty is letting you know (s)he does NOT understand what is happening.

(S)He'll get past that stage too, if your neighbors can stand it.

to you and your girlfriend for adopting this little kitty. :rub:

Just keep at it. Spend as much time in there as you can, ignoring him/her. Just do quiet stuff, and let kitty watch.

OH! ROUTINE. I haven't seen that mentioned here yet. Routine is your friend. Cats LOVE routine. Feed meals at a set time (dump the kibble if you haven't already, it's healthier to not feed it anyway). I realize your meals are just baby food on a spoon, so you'll be wanting to put that out more frequently... :lol3: ...but the times that WILL be actual meal times, when kitty is eating meals, feed at as close to the same time as possible every day. (Three meals a day is ideal: the equivalent of before work, after work, and before bed usually works to give you chunks of time when you're actually back to having a life with a cat that is happy to be there ). Have a routine time for cleaning the water bowl and putting out fresh water. Have a routine time for cleaning the litter boxes. Having all of that stuff happen at "set" times will add to kitty feeling more secure.

I wrote a really simplistic article on socializing feral cats. But it may help: http://www.catnipchronicles.com/may2012/laurie.htm

 

[mservant]

Please believe you are doing the right thing and take reassurance from all the people on this site who have gone there before you. You are giving this little cat a chance of a safe and healthy life with love and care. Yes, s/he is terrified most of the time just now but think about how things have progressed from the day you brought the little mite in to your apartment.  This is huge progress for such a tiny and scared creature. Every day s/he is learning and developing and you are all learning about each other.  Keep up with the reading, and if you get tired and the sound still keeps him/her calm, think about getting some audio books - I sometimes use them to help me get to sleep and my cats have always loved them - like kids at story time without the effort! 

 

[mini lowen]

Omg! Yay!!! Every morning I wake up to my 4 beautiful house cats meowing for their breakfast. I look at their sweet faces and I say "Quiet, you losers! I want to know if that little cat in NYC has eaten anything!" And you did it! Congratulations! High five from Canada!
Ignore his/her whining to get out. It's like when you're raising a toddler, and they're constantly trying to kill themselves. Going near electrical outlets, impossibly high stairs, drain cleaner. And you stop them, not because you're a buzz kill, but because you know better. Your new friend in the fur pants is much better off with you than out on the streets, and he/she will come to realize it, too.
I agree with LDG, (BTW Loved that story, LoL!) that routine is very important. I've even declined evenings out with friends because I needed to be home to feed Will Feral. Ahhhh, who's the loser, now...
Get ready for a long and rewarding project! Cheers!

 

[nccarol]

I am so happy you are getting your new baby to eat...Congratulations you have done an amazing job. We do whatever works for our babies and the rewards will be endless